5993. ZINZENDORF. I spoke with Zinzendorf and it was granted me to show him his enormous errors. It was also granted me to see and hear from himself of what quality he is, namely (1), that he is a very powerful persuader, and that his persuasiveness is by protestations that he knows the arcana of heaven and that nobody can enter heaven unless he be in his doctrine: - dreadful protestations and of such a nature that they enter into the soul, although he is in the greatest falsities. (2) That he speaks with all according to their own religion, thus pretending that he is of a similar doctrine. He said that he attracts in this way, and afterwards implants his own secret doctrines; observing, at the time, first, whether they are accepted. (3) He said that his faith is, that the Lord was born in order to be adopted Son of God; and that He is the adopted Son of God: at first, he believed that He was only adopted because He submitted to the passion of the cross; (4) that His Divine is such as the Divine is with other men; but that it is now somewhat greater in amount, because He was born in order to be adopted. (5) The Lord's Divine from conception, he denies. He admitted that it is so written, but, still, they [i.e., the Zinzendorfians*] do not believe that it so took place: thus, they are in a sort of Socinianism. (6) They are unwilling to divulge this secret doctrine, because they would in that way be called Socinians [or] Arians, and their communion would perish. (7) He attributed sins to the Lord, and held that He was not a greater man than others. (8) He depreciated those things which the Lord spoke in the Evangelists, saying they are obscure and have scarcely any meaning, and that Paul spoke much better than He. (9) That he pays no heed to the Old Testament and all the things which are contained in it about the Lord: when I brought forth therefrom certain passages concerning the Lord, he did not want to hear them, as if they were things of no moment. (10) That he spurns the whole life of charity because [according to him] it contributes nothing to salvation. He also said, that, in relation to life, God is not to be thought about: this he condemned. (11) He was altogether in favor of faith separated from charity. Inasmuch as he believed that only he and his adherents would enter heaven, because they were alive through faith, and consequently that he would come into heavenly joy, he was asked what he believed respecting heavenly joy. His belief was that it is a joy passing comprehension. He was told that all joy is of affection, and that this joy is of spiritual affection, since on this is inscribed heaven with man; and, so far as there is in it anything of natural affection separate from spiritual, so far it is not the joy of heaven. He also believed that he would enter the highest heaven. He was told that heaven is denied to none; also to enter heaven, if he so desires, as also he can do if he choose, in order that he might know from experience what heavenly joy is. Wherefore, he prepared himself and entered a society where heavenly joy prevailed. He entered a house, where he sat in the delight and pleasure of glory; but that delight was communicated to the others in the society, wherefore he was let into that house, and it was commanded that they should go out of the society, because, owing to this, the affection of their life and the delight thereof began to be impaired. It was stated that an intruder did it. On his being explored, it was found that his desire for glory had its source from self, in that, in the world, he was so great that he established a complete church, and therefore was more deserving of heaven than others. He supposed that there was no idea of merit in his thirst for glory, but yet there was; on which account he went away. The same sort of thing happened in many societies, and everywhere he was ordered to go away, because he blunted and destroyed their joys; also for the reason that he despised all others that were not of his religion, believing them to be dead. It was stated that genuine glory is the glory of uses separated from self-regard, thus solely for the sake of the use-this ambition is heartfelt delight, and inflows, not from self and its own flesh, but from the Lord through heaven - and that he was not able to be in this glory, because, in the world, he had rejected the whole life of uses. He was told, moreover, that if he should seek it daily he would never find it. He stated that he spoke with his brethren about heaven, and that those whom he found [said] that they did possess heaven, but possess it now no longer, and that they seek, and do not find. They were told that the reason was, that such persons, along with many others, previously formed to themselves heavens, which are meant in the Apocalypse by the former heaven that passed away - which, also, perished at the time of the Last Judgment and that no such heavens would be tolerated hereafter, but that all enter wherever their life, or spiritual faith, draws them. * I.e., the modern Moravians.